This is Now
by Emily Sone
Summary: Two years after Meteor, Vincent Valentine is still in touch with Reeve, and receives strange news…news that inspires him to leave his coffin and meet up with Reeve again.
1. Prologue

Ah-hah, I figure out how to get the line to add Author's notes at last!(Ahem) Anyways, I apologise for the amount of description here, but ther really wasn't anything in the game for me to use to base the character off of. If there was, It would have been a lot shorter. Anyways, this is my first atempt at a fanfic, so please keep that in mind. Also, I have a very strange attention span as well as OCD, so please try to bear with me. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this.

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Prologue

A small female sat quietly in a corner. Her clothing was unlike most in the area. Clad in a skin-tight suit that ended two inches before her elbows, and several inches above her knees, covering everything between. The neck of the suit, which was the darkest shade of midnight, went half-way up her neck. Finger-less gloves were on both of her hands. The glove on her left hand stopping just below the end of her black suit, showing an inch of pale white skin. Her skin was in the same extreme of white as the black of her suit. The glove on her right hand, also finger-less, ended immediately after her wrist. Above the glove, a strangely shaped scar spiraled its way up her arm. Starting in an small spiral, it went slowly over her arm, and ended and began in a circling line. After were three circles all the way around her arm, about half an inch of space between them. Then another spiral and three more circles that ended just before the sleeve of her suit. On her left leg was a small boot ending just after her ankle. Above this was the same scar as was on her right hand, ending, as with the other one, just before the black of her suit. Her right leg had a boot as well, but as with the left arm, ended an inch before meeting clothing. Both gloves and boots were the same midnight black as the suit. The scars, however, were not normal. Unlike normal scars, they seemed to be works of art, and unlike normal scars, they were not skin colored. They were light sliver. Her eyes were the same color. Her black hair matched her clothing.

She sat straight up in a chair the same silver as her eyes and identical scars. In front of her sat a person who could not be seen, and was covered by shadow, while he girl was illuminated by a circle of moonlight that was allowed into the room by a circular window facing the south and the sea. Eventually, the figure in the corner spoke to her. Its voice was oddly high-pitched and deep at the same time, though it was continually changing octaves, pitches, and everything else possible to be changed in a voice. "Lu…LU?" The girl in the silver chair, the only other person seemingly there, the girl in the silver chair nodded, if somewhat hesitantly. The voice sounded again "You…are Lu?…of course…no so very different…except for what is always different…" The girl, Lu, sat with one leg, her long-booted leg, crossed over the short-legged one, hands clasped in her lap, sitting up perfectly straight, and looking the picture of good posture. Again the odd sounding voice spoke "Ah…alive…wonderful…but not yet…so much, so very much to do still…but soon…leave soon-soon, now, leave soon-now…Luce..." Easily interpreting the incoherent nonsense, she took her leave. The voice laughed again, cracking and going over several voices as different as the days of the year.

The girl, Luce, walked out and away from the disembodied voice, into the night. Cloudless and lit up brightly from the full moon and surrounding stars, the scars and skin glowing as brightly as the moon itself, the rest of her looking like an oddly placed shadow. She glanced at the full moon, no emotion showing on her oddly pale face. Moments later Phoenix soared through the sky. However, Phoenix was not red, or bright, but as sliver and pale as the light falling from the moon…

At the same time, half a world away in Nibelheim, Vincent Valentine sat on the roof of Shinra Mansion. The time of the day was sunset. He sat there, still clothed in the same garb he had worn two years ago, when he and the rest of AVALANCHE saved the world from Meteor. Death Penalty lay strapped in the holster on his leg. As he glanced down at his phone, he noticed that Yuffie was calling for what had to be the fourteenth time that day. After it stopped buzzing (it was on silent) he checked his missed calls. She had called no fewer then forty-seven times in the last twenty-four hours. As he contemplated wither or not to check his voice mail, another call came in. Before hanging up, he noticed that this time it was not from the annoying ninja, who was no doubt calling him constantly simply to remind him that she was turning eighteen next week, he noticed that it was one of Reeve's numbers flashing on his cell.

He hit the talk button on his phone, and listened, not even bothering to say a simple hello or offer a greeting. After twenty seconds, Reeve seems to realize that the phone isn't ringing. "…Vincent, didn't Yuffie tell you that you had to _say something _to let people know that you've picked up the phone??"

"Yeah…she might have said something about that-"

"Ok, anyways, I need you to get over here in a few days. I have something interesting to show you."

"Alright, I'll be there in two weeks."

"_Vincent, I said a few days-"_ Vincent clicked his phone shut, drowning out Reeve's voice. He sat back and allowed the sun's warm, dying ray to warm his body temporarily before going inside into the basement and packing some of his stuff. Although it would only take a few days to reach Reeve, he had a short stop to make on his way over there. An hour later, Chaos was flying through the sky, heading in the direction of a certain underground waterfall.

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Feel free to comment and review, I crave constructive criticism. 


	2. Chapter 1

Ok, now that the prologue(Which was almost completely filler) is out of the way, I proudly present the story!

(Also, I apologse for typos, my spell check odes not have a grammer check, so there may be some things I missed)

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Chapter One

Vincent Valentine sat quietly in the cave behind the waterfall. Lucrecia hadn't moved, hadn't changed, and was no longer even attempting to speak to him. One thing, however, had changed. In a perfect circle around her, there were now flowers that resembled lilies. The difference between these flowers and lilies were very obvious, as normal lilies did not glow blue-white as if fallen from the moon, and where normal lilies were orange-yellow, these were blue as the ocean at night. Suddenly a noise alerted him to the presence of another. He turned around and saw a teenage girl clothed in black garb with gloves and boots in mismatched lengths. Her face seemed oddly familiar, and if he had been paying attention to her face, then maybe he would have been able to realize who she was sooner. However, his eyes were transfixed on what she was carrying. In her hands was a bouquet of the flowers surrounding Lucrecia. The girl walked forward quietly, much more quietly then would be thought given her shoes, and went past Vincent before he could say anything or even get up. As she walked past, he noticed that her hair, which was if not darker then as dark as his, completely covered her back and fell almost to her knees. When she was standing in front of Lucrecia, she lay the flowers down in front of her and spoke three simple words "Happy mother's day."

At these words, Vincent stood up quickly and took a few steps toward the girl

"Are you-, I mean is she-"

She turned and looked up at him, as if noticing he was there for the first time.

"…No, I am not Lucrecia's. However, it is nice to meet you sooner then scheduled, Vincent Valentine."

He looked at her, puzzlement allowing itself to be worn on his face as an emotion.

"Ahead of schedule?"

She ignored his question, turned around, and started to leave.

"Unfortunately, I have to be going now. I'm not supposed to be here actually."

Vincent walked four steps forward and blurted out a question before he could stop himself "Why did you bring her these flowers and say that to her if your not Luc-"

She turned her head slightly to acknowledge his question

"Because Sephiroth never once came to see her…he did know who is _real_ mother was for many years…and she shouldn't have to be alone on mother's day."

She walked through the waterfall and left. Vincent walked to Lucrecia and took a closer look at the flowers laid in a circle and couldn't help but look surprised as he saw that they were _planted_ in a circle, and the bouquet contained the only non-planted flowers. _'She shouldn't have to be alone on mother's day…Sephiroth knew who his _real_ mother was…I'm not Lucrecia's…' _And suddenly he realized it. Why she had looked so much like someone he knew _She has Lucrecia's face…'I'm not Lucrecia's…' How can that be possible? How can she have her face and not be- How did she get here?! _He ran to the opening as fast as he could, but she wasn't there. She wasn't even in sight. With a sick feeling in his stomach, he looked around to see if she had fallen down. However, wherever she was, it appeared as though she hadn't fallen to her death. With one last look to Lucrecia, he promised "I'll be back…Reeve is expecting me so I need to leave."

Moments later, Chaos was flying through the sky again. The moon was waning. It was now a quarter empty.

Reeve looked at Luke in disappointment

"What if something had happened? What if you got caught? What if-"

Luke looked back up at him "Sorry to interrupt you, but your guest will be here in twelve minutes. And you know I can take care of myself. Besides, Phoenix was happy. She never gets to fly anymore…"

Reeve looked fit to burst "And for good reason! She has enough to do without flying on top of everything else! If she failed, you would be…"

"Dead. I know. But she isn't some weak little hatchling, and she does need exercise beyond what she already does."

Reeve sighed "So…how long before he gets here?"

Luke closed her eyes for a moment "…Two minutes now."

Running a hand through his hair with a sigh, he looked at Luke again "…Alright, get back to the docks then."

He watched as she walked away and sighed again.

"…Reeve, what are you doing?"

Reeve jumped a foot into the air and turned around to see Vincent Valentine had walked in, gotten past security, was leaning against a wall, and most likely had seen him pacing, messing up his hair, and sighing for the past five minutes. Not very professional of him.

"OH, uh…uh…um….err…HI VINCENT!" Not very professional at all.

Vincent ignored the blast that shook the hanging lights in the room that was Reeve's welcome "What was so important that you needed me to get over here? More mutants streaming out of Midgar? Another Sephiroth? Meteor?…Or did you make another Cait Sith?"

Rubbing his hands gleefully, Reeve had a stupid look of excitement on his face "As a matter of fact, I did make a few advancements on Cait Sith-"

Vincent stopped leaning on the wall, turned, and started to walk away

"-but that's not why I called you here!"

Vincent returned to leaning on his favorite piece of wall.

"I called you over here because I wanted you opinion on our latest project! She really is a great piece of work, and amazingly fine considering she was one of Hojo's latter-"

"Hojo?" Vincent's voice was soft and very angry. He still hated Hojo more then most people could imagine, and suddenly wanted to destroy anything having to do with the madman's work.

"Hey, relax, relax! It's not what you think, were not doing biological experiments on one of Hojo's experimentations…or any other biological experiments." Reeve added this last bit as an afterthought, not wanting Chaos to tear down the building in a fit of rage. "…All were doing is testing to see what she can do."

"She?"

"Yes, she. Her name is Luke."

"You named a _girl_ Luke?"

"That's the name she gave us, and we decided that it would be an error in judgment to change a name she gave willingly, when she could have changed it herself at anytime. Anyways, since its two o'clock in the morning, we'll introduce her to you tomorrow. The little fool decided that a night time stroll was necessary, and only got back thirty minutes ago, or I'd be asleep myself." Reeve took a map out of his pocket "The circled room is yours, you should be able to find anything you need on that map. This is a big building, and most of it is underground. Most floor have maps outside the elevators, so if you should get lost, look at those…Vincent?…Vincent?…Oh well, might as well go to sleep…"

As he had been talking, Vincent had apparently left. Reeve strolled off to bed, not giving it another though.

Vincent Valentine sat in his room, unpacking his guns. Someone had been smart enough to put gun racks, bullets, and everything needed to take care of guns in his room. As he took care of Death Penalty, he though about what Reeve had told him. _A girl named Luke…not exactly normal. _After taking care of all his guns, he strode over to the bed and lay down, thinking. Eventually he fell asleep, though he didn't really need to.

"Alright!" Reeve's overexcited voice said over the microphone "Orange…ok, Yellow…Skip Green and Blue, go straight to Purple…Alright, at ease, Grey…Hey Vince, nice to see you-" He stopped at the glare he got from the nickname "-OK, Vincent it is…anyways, this is Luke-" He stopped as Vincent walked over to the glass and looked into the training room at Luke.

"…Did you say that she went somewhere yesterday?"

Unnoticed by both men, Luke left the training room.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because we meet yesterday" said a voice at Reeve's shoulder "He saw me when I visited Lucrecia." She turned to Vincent and still no emotion showed on her pale face. The face that looked so like Lucrecia's. But that wasn't right, and Vincent knew it. Lucrecia had loved the sun, she would never have let herself get so pale. And there had almost always been some emotion showing on her face, this one looked as though it had never experienced anything remotely like emotion. He noticed one other things, as he finally looked her in the eye. She had Silver eyes, most unlike Lucrecia indeed.

"Nice to meet you again, Vincent Valentine. If this bumbling oaf hasn't told you yet, I'm Luke."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

After several minutes of Reeve looking unable to answer to being called a bumbling oaf, he sent finally managed to put a few words together "…Back to room!" Surprisingly, Luke simply turned around, though with her obviously superior intelligence, she could have easily outwitted him and done whatever she wanted at that moment.

Vincent took the time provided by Reeve's attempts at regaining his composure to look around the room. It reminded him of all of Reeve's observation rooms that he had ever had the…_honor_…to visit. The walls were bleached white, and the floor was some kind of a mix of linoleum and cement, but white as the walls. The front of the room consisted of heavy duty machinery directly below observation windows. The windows were about fifteen feet above the room shown below. Along the other walls in the room were computers and…_Cait Siths_…were busily typing and seeming to analyze some sort of data.

Reeve had noticed him looking at the dolls "They're the newest ones. Every one is an AI."

Vincent looked down at the room through one of the observation windows. Luke had just walked into the room. "What do you mean by AI?"

Reeve dry washed his hands excitedly. Vincent instantly regretted bringing up the subject. "The AI project is what I've been working on for five years. It was the original goal of the Cait Sith project-"

"Just get to the point." Reeve's ranting on his projects could last for hours, and there were few people with both the attention span and interest to listen to his lectures on projects such as Cait Sith. Vincent lacked the interest, but did have the patience. Patience was something that one simply acquired when one spent fifty years in a coffin voluntarily.

Reeve looked fairly disappointed, but Reeve was one to bounce back quickly…

"Well…AI is artificial intelligence…if you want the simplest explanation…" He looked slightly hopeful that Vincent might want a more through one. He would be disappointed.

"I think that's all the information I need about your…AI project. Now, why _exactly _did you call me out here?"

Reeve shuffled uncomfortably "Well…uh…the thing is…well, everyone else agreed…and…we all agreed…"

One of the Cait Siths on the left side of the room piped up. Its voice was oddly squeaky, and Vincent got the impression that this one was female. "Boss, Lu is requesting nine-o-seven as well as more .79."

Reeve looked excited again, and began to dry wash his hands once again, though in obvious excitement "Grant .79, but request seven-o-nine instead."

The Squeaky Cait Sith spoke up again "Seven-o-nine accepted, beginning phase yellow-"

"Why again am _I _here?"

Reeve turned around and seemed fairly surprised to see Vincent there. He had always been one to forget things in the heat of the moment. Sometimes very important things…"Ah…well…"

A Cait Sith on the right side of the room interrupted him this time. This one had a slower voice, and was much less squeaky. Possibly male was what Vincent decided, though he immediately wondered why he should care ad why he was spending time trying to decide what Cait Sith was what. "Boss…Store room eighty-nine and forty-seven are both out of .79. Should we cancel seven-o-nine?"

Reeve heaved a sigh "Yes…cancel seven-o-nine and transfer to fourteen-eleven." He turned to Vincent "We asked you to come here because you're the best with a gun we know of. We want you to teach her. Everyone else from the old team is here…except Cloud and Tifa haven't arrived yet, but they're due any day. We would've asked Barret, but he can't teach her, he only knows how to use one attached to his arm-"

"Why should I?…There is no need for her to use or posses my skills, I'm sure you could find another person to teach her what you want her to know-"

"She requested you." Reeve was oddly quiet now.

"How could she request someone she didn't even know?"

"She said she knew you. She won't tell us anything else, and we've tried…Nothing serious, though, we only asked we didn't try to force any information." He obviously didn't want any trouble.

Vincent heaved a sigh, knowing that he would probably regret this later "Alright, fine. But first I want to know what kind of project this Luke is."

The same Cait Sith on the left side of the room piped up again "You should talk to her yourself. Also, boss, we have a problem…were completely out of .79, all that we have left is whatever Lu has in her room already."

"I have enough for Five days, if necessary." The Cait Sith who had been talking turned around, as did all of the others. At the same moment, they all jumped up and ran at her. As if one, they all jumped up and down in a perfect circle around her.

Reeve leaned toward Vincent and whispered behind one hand "They worship her."

Vincent felt no need to hold up a hand or whisper, so simply talked quietly enough to not be overheard over the racket made by the Cait Siths "Why?"

"I have NO idea. I wish I did."

"…Sir, AI-02 numbers 071, 072, 073, 059, 060, and 061 wish to come with me. May they"

Reeve jumped at foot in the air once he realized that six Cait Siths and Luke were staring at him and that it had been quiet for at least two minutes, and that they had most likely heard at least his last comment "O-of course, once data analysis has been completed-"

The Cait Sith closest to Luke spoke up, it was the same one who had spoken on the left side of the room earlier. "Changes are within the basic start up parameters, bio signs are static and non-changed."

Luke looked down at the Cait Sith who had spoken "And of course, 011 will be coming with us as well."

Reeve nodded, already inspecting some sort of graph on a computer screen. "Of course, of course…"

Luke turned to leave the room, seven AI dolls following her. She stopped for a moment and turned to look at Reeve "And I suggest that you fill out a form for more .79 if you don't want another incident to occur like twelve-o-seven."

Reeve nodded absent mindedly, a Cait Sith at his knee looked up at Luke "Don't worry Lu, we'll take care of the order forms."

Luke nodded, and, much to Vincent's surprise, emotion showed on her face for the first time since he had met her. She smiled at the Cait Sith dolls, and waved at the remaining thirteen in the room as seven walked out with her "I know you'll get the job done."

Reeve turned away from the screen after what seemed to be a through inspection "Alright, you guys can go with her…" The dolls around the room jumped up and ran after where Luke had headed after leaving. Reeve sighed "I really don't get it…She only acts like a normal person around those dolls…"

Vincent looked at the order form one of the dolls had filled out "…You should hurry up and mail this…what is twelve-o-seven?"

Looking fairly startled, Reeve looked away from his precious screen "Where did you hear about twelve-o-seven?"

If he didn't have more self-control, Vincent would have rolled his eyes. Reeve really needed to learn to pay more attention to what was going on around him. "Luke just said that if you didn't want another twelve-o-seven, that you should order more .79."

Reeve looked down at his elbow at the order form. "…What would I do without those dolls?" He went back to the monitor, and pulled up a file. "Twelve-o-seven…was a disaster." He pulled up another file "The video is damaged, but you get the idea…"

The video began playing. The room was a large basement. A voice that Vincent identified as Reeve's was speaking. It sounded very panicked "Everyone evacuate, now!" A bar on the side of the screen was blinking red. The screen was flashing red. The video focused somewhat, but was heavily distorted. There were several flashes, and the screen went black. The sound still worked, but all that could be heard over explosions were screams and the noises that seemed to accompany panic.

"That tape ends there." He pulled up the first file "This is immediately after, once 011 fixed the camera."

A crater filled the screen, looking very much like the area by northern crater. In the center of the crater was a pale figure in black. The camera zoomed in, and where she now had pale scars were what appeared to be deep cuts in the same exact shape. As the camera filmed, the skin seemed to pull itself together, leaving only the scars that were still on her. The camera continued to zoom, revealing that her eyes were open. The usual silver of her eyes was non-existent, replaced by a crimson red deeper then blood.

"Twelve-o-nine was 'a disaster nearly as bad as the calamity from the sky'." Noticing the look he was getting, Reeve hurriedly added "Her words, not mine."

Vincent glanced at the screen. Cait Sith dolls were in a circle around Luke, and one was helping her to sit up. "How old is this kid?"

Reeve shrugged uncomfortably. "We have no idea. We found her in an underground building. She was in a tube filled with mako." He pulled up another file. This tape showed a tube that was indeed filled with make. An inscription at the top of the tube read 'Luce'. Inside of the liquid was a girl with black hair down to her knees, clad in a billowing black shirt that went halfway to her knees, and black pants.

After looking at the screen for a few moments, Vincent finally asked his question. "I though you said her name was Luke."

"It is. Its _spelled_ Luce."

"Why do the dolls call her Lu?

"I don't know."

Vincent stood up "I've heard enough."

"But-"

"NO!" Vincent stood still for a few moments, wondering why he had just come so close to losing his temper. "As far as I can see, your training a weapon. I want no part of it."

The door opened again "Its not like that." Vincent turned and saw Yuffie.

Yuffie smiled and looked like she wanted to do a cartwheel. "Hey, Vince, how's it going?"

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I had a lot of fun with this chapter...bumbeling oaf XD. Seriously though, I need you people to tell me what you think. As a person who plans a future designing video games, I need to be able to know what my strengths and weaknesses as a writer are. just remember, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism (twinges at memorises of evil ruthless children in elementry school...) 


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three-A Different Side of Yuffie

Luce sat in the corner of her room at a computer desk typing what appeared to be a report. Three of the 'dolls' were sitting around here, and 011 was sitting on her lap. The other sixteen dolls were amusing themselves in various places around the room. The space on the desk not taken up by the computer was taken up by pill bottles labeled .79.

Vincent walked down the hall silently, Yuffie wasn't. As usual for a hyper-active-almost-eighteen-ninja, she amused herself by humming and turning around in circles every once in a while as if dancing to a song only she could hear. Eventually she stopped turning and humming. She looked less hyper and more like the adult the law said she would be in three days "…It wasn't Reeve's idea to turn her into a weapon you know."

Vincent kept walking straight ahead. Though he wouldn't admit it, he had no idea where he was going and knew that he was probably lost. "It was her idea for you to come here." Another fork in the hallway. _Left or right?_

"She couldn't have asked for someone to teach her that she doesn't know." He turned left. The sign over the door read 'cafeteria'. Since no one was inside anyways, he decided that it couldn't hurt to go inside. Yuffie followed him inside. "That's not very nice of you. She'll be really sad once she finds out you don't remember her, if she doesn't know already."

"I don't know her." He suddenly became very interested in the glass of water he had taken when he sat down at the table. Yuffie turned a chair around and sat at the table, her torso leaning against the back of the chair as she leaned it so that only two legs of the chair were touching the floor. Vincent eyed her suspiciously "Is it really a good idea for someone like you to be doing that?" She stuck her tongue out, but set the chair back down after thinking about it for a second. "I guess your right…" She gave a little sigh, but tossed her head back and was grinning again.

"So, what have _you_ been doing?"

He ignored the question, knowing that all she wanted was to talk about what she had been doing.

"Well, _I _haven't been doing much of anything lately, thanks to Mr. I'm-so-important don't-you-love-my-experiments ooh-my-precious-little-AI boring-the-pants-offa-everyone-else!" She finished her rant with a little pout. "But before he got obsessed, Luce and I were having loooooooooads of fun. She's really smart too. Reeve wanted me to teach her ninja stuff and Wutian, but get this, she already _knew _Wutian!"

After this point, Vincent started to tune her out, wondering how to get rid of her before she talked herself blue in the face. _**It's already an amusing shade of red**_ _True, but that could just be from the excitement. _After a moment, Vincent sat up a little straighter. After all, Chaos hadn't spoken to him in a long time, and he saw no reason for him to break his silence with what was, for him at least, a joke. _I thought that you didn't want to talk to someone as dull and boring as me. __**I don't see anyone else to talk to in your head. Unless you have **_**other**_** voices in here that I don't know about.**_

"-And so after we talked about it, we all agreed that it would be best if-"

_Are you sick or something?_ Though he doubted that materia could even get sick, it was an amusing thought. He couldn't help picturing a piece of mater with a little hand holding a piece of tissue paper to its non-existent nose. _**No, I suppose that wouldn't work, would it?**_ _Why are you even talking?_ _**I'm bored.**_

"-Of course, Reeve had a fit over it, but Godo was thrilled-"

…_**Do all ninja go on like this?** I have no idea, and personally I wouldn't want to take the time to find out. **I suppose you have a point, you wouldn't want to stay around more then one of these…you never know, it might be possible for one like this to talk your ear off.**_

"-But, I suppose that is that, you can't un-make someone your little sister-"

_How strange, I'm carrying on a conversation with a voice in my head instead of with a person that I have proof exists that's sitting in front of me. **Oh, come now, you know I exist…** true, true, but you can't deny that I'm talking to a voice in my head. That doesn't exactly sound healthy or sane to me._

"-And Reeve doesn't even know that Luce can-"

_**Well…I'm bored. **Oh shut-up, you're a voice in the back of my head half the time, and the other half you're a piece of materia, how can you even understand what bored is? **Materia is made by the life stream, just like you humans. Why shouldn't materia be able to comprehend things that you humans do?**_

"-So now I'm teaching her history, and ninja arts. Its surprising how good she is, considering-"

_I guess you have a point…how sad, I'm losing an argument with a voice in my head. **I **_**do **_**have a name you know.**_

"-Its just so sad, it'll be pitiful when she meets Cloud and finds out he has-"

_Do shut-up, we never know when she might expect me to say something. I'd rather not look like an idiot if its all the same to you._ Chaos grumbled, but seemed to retreat to a deeper place in the back of Vincent's head until he could only hear him if he concentrated.

"-And I was thinking, if you didn't have anything better to do…we could go and visit her sometime…"

Having no idea what she was talking about, he gave a seemingly neutral answer "Whenever you want." He instantly knew that he had given the wrong answer by her reaction.

Yuffie jumped up and knocked her chair over, more over-excited then usual. That was saying something "REALLY?!?! Ok, lets go see her now!!" She did three cartwheels, just enough to get herself to the door without crashing into it or anything else.

----------

"But you need to take four more…please?"

"…"

"What if I can give it to you with the IV drip?"

"…ok."

011 walked over to the desk where Luce was sitting in the chair with her head on the table. After taking a bottle of .79 and using a pestle to grind it into a fine power, the doll added it to a bag of water. After a few moments the dust diluted, and 011 walked back over to Luce with the IV drip ready "Hold out your arm, ok?"

Luce didn't move "I'm tired…"

011 jumped up on the desk so that it was possible to insert the drip. "You know the rules. Don't fall asleep."

"Can I at least keep my eyes closed? I promise I won't fall asleep."

011 thought for a minute, but decided to give in "…Alright, but not for very long."

After five minutes, someone knocked at the door "Hey, its me! 011, you there? Can I come in?" 011 walked over to the door and opened I slightly "Sorry Yuffie, Luce is resting right now…" Yuffie pushed her head into the room and looked over at Luce "Oh…" The enthusiasm faded out of her voice "She isn't doing so good, is she?" She pushed past 011, and walked over to where Luce was sitting with her head down on her desk. "Hey kiddo…how're ya doing?"

An irritated voice came up from the 'kiddo' "I told you not to call me that. You should leave…both of you."

Vincent blinked in surprise. He had to hand it to the kid, it was surprising to have someone know when you were in their room without looking up and having a ninja distracting them. Also, he hadn't made any noise when he came in, so he mentally gave her an 8 out of ten on the perceptive scale. _**I say a nine, but do whatever you want.**_

If Yuffie had heard her, which Vincent doubted she hadn't, she was ignoring her. She sat down on the desk next to Luce, and stroked her hair in a motherly manner that really surprised Vincent, seeing as how this _was _Yuffie after all. The doll that had let them in curled up next to Luce's feet.

"So, did ya have a good day today?"

"You numbskull, I thought I told you to leave. Even an idiotic hyper-active clutz like yo must understand something as simple as **leave me alone.**" Her normally monotone voice sounded much sterner at the end of her short speech.

Yuffie shrugged and laughed "Your not going to get rid of me that easily. Listen, I promise that we'll have more .79 soon, ok?" The Ninja lowered her head to the ear of her 'kiddo' and whispered something. A strange strangled-sort of laugh came out of Luce's mouth. It didn't suite her at all. After a minute, Yuffie turned her attention to the doll "I think she fell asleep…"

The doll jumped up and began speaking very quickly "You can't tell boss, she'll be okay, but he doesn't understand! That was only one time, and it was only because-"

Yuffie held up her hands, as if to fend off an attacker "I know, she talks to me too. Lets just make this our little secret, okay?" The doll nodded, and sat down. After a minute, Yuffie took out the IV drip, and picked up 'kiddo'. She set her down on the bed in the far corner of the room. Around that area were about twenty or so cat beds. Most of these beds were occupied by dolls.

After tucking in Luce like a mother, Yuffie turned and looked over at 011. "She isn't eating again." It wasn't a question. It wasn't answered. "Don't give her more .79 for a while, I think it makes her worse--Vincent?"

Vincent was at the door, with his back to the room and its occupants "…I'm leaving." Yuffie sighed, but nodded "Maybe later then."

----------

In his office, Reeve completed the form for more .79. His favorite Cait Sith was sitting next to him. Luce had told him "He hadn't awakened yet. Once he has, you'll see the difference." He couldn't deny that there were obvious differences between 021 and the other dolls.

021 turned his gaze onto Reeve "I tired of simulations, we all are, can we take a break?"

Reeve shook his head "No, we don't have enough information yet."

"We get the same information every time now, and you won't allow the only simulations that we _don't _have recorded, the only ones we _don't_ have information on."

"You know why, we can't chance another twelve-o-seven. Maybe after she has better control over it, we can try some new simulations." He heaved yet another sigh. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "Anyways, I'm off to get some sleep." He turned and walked out into the hallway, walking straight into none other then Vincent Valentine.

Well, not exactly walked into, he stopped with his nose about an inch from the man's chest. He hated being short, but he really couldn't do very much about it. To his surprise, Vincent was _smiling _at him. "Well well well, if it isn't Reeve. Come walk with me, we need to have a talk."

* * *

This chapter didn' exactly go as I planned it. I'm going to have to put what I wanted this chapter to be about in the next one. Still, I did have some fun with this. Personally, I love Yuffie, and i'm debating what to do with her at this point. Also, i'm thinking about adding a 'story' that are actully reports on the 'dolls'(who I love very much). This 'story' would actully be more of Lu's diary. Let me know what you all think, we(the voices and I) can't decide what to do, so I need to know what you all think. 


	5. Chapter 4

Kind of short, but I spen most of today dealing with an issue at the DMV(Silently curses the incompetence of the DMV). This is mostly filler, and still isn't quite what I wanted this chapter to be about, but the voices hve spoken, and said that it will come soon...Anyways, I need you all to let me know what you think! Enjoy...

* * *

Chapter Four-Yuffie's Kiddo

"So basically, you won't let a little kid sleep because…?"

Reeve shook his head, now only slightly amused now that Vincent was actually interested in someone "Well…basically I can't let her sleep because unlike you, the demons placed inside of her are released once her defenses are down. Out of the four inside of her, three are fine, but the fourth is…sort of berserk."

Vincent nodded slowly, starting to get the picture. "So once she falls asleep, this fourth starts to…?"

"Kill anything in its path and destroy everything in a five hundred foot radius. That's why-"

Yuffie walked inside of the cafeteria and interrupted Reeve "That's why she needs to leave. I don't care what _you _say, Reeve, I'm taking her with me when I leave."

Reeve stood up angrily and took three steps toward the under-age ninja. Judging by the way this argument was heading, Vincent decided that this argument had been going on for a while.

"And I'm telling _you_, Ms. Kisaragi, that she needs to stay here, in a controlled environment!"

"We've already seen how well she does in your _controlled environment_, and she only gets worse and worse each time after your idiotic tests!"

_**That, I believe, is the most brilliant shade of red I have ever seen on anyone. **Are you talking about Yuffie or Reeve? **Well, they look almost the same…but I was talking about the girl.**_

"--Without my 'idiotic tests', we would never have even known about her condition!"

"Her 'condition' is fine, except for the face that because of your meddling in her health, she's practically addicted to .79, off food **again**, and not even allowed to _sleep_!"

"You know what happens when she sleeps! The risks of .79 are far less then another incident like-"

The Cait Sith doll in the corner of the room suddenly stood up, catching Reeve's attention "…Boss, I think Yuffie is right."

"B-but…"

"…I've been talking to the others, and we all agree that Wutai would be a much better place for Lu to stay, at least until she recovers.'

Reeve opened his mouth as if to argue, but seemed to think better of it "Fine…alright…you win…She can go to Wutai, but if she gets worse, you have to bring her back."

Yuffie, grinning again as usual, though retaining more or less of a brilliant shade of red on her face, held out her hand "Alright then, it's a deal. Shake on it?"

Nodding a bit stiffly, Reeve shook her hand "So…Cid gets here…?"

"In about three hours. We leave tomorrow." Yuffie answered in a tone that clearly stated that she would have taken Luce no matter what Reeve had said. After staring at each other for a few more tense minutes, Yuffie skipped to the door, twirled, walked out…and fell, almost taking an expensive looking vase down with her. "I'm okay!"

After her second, more successful exit, Reeve turned his attention back to Vincent. "Now, the real reason I asked you to come out here…" He sat back down at the table where he had been before Yuffie walked in "…Is because I need answers…about…Hojo." After saying Hojo's name, he half ducked and covered his head to wait for Vincent's reaction. After deciding that he was in a good enough mood to continue without being instantly destroyed, he continued "…How many people did he do experimentations on involving directly inserting materia into human specimens?"

_**Humph**_ "I wouldn't know. While I was there, I didn't see any other experimentations…unless you count Sephiroth." **Ignorant little human, isn't he?**

Reeve sighed "I thought as much…the thing is, just the fourth one she has is enough to do at least as much damage as one of the weapons. We…we wanted to know if there were others…just as a precaution, not to exterminate them or anything!" He was obviously trying to keep Vincent calm.

"…You do realize that _I_ don't go crazy and make miniature craters just because of minor annoyances, don't you?"

"O-of course, I never thought…" Reeve was dry-washing his hands again. Though he said that he wasn't worried, he was noticeably calmer and more comfortable around Vincent after that. More like he had been during the time they had been part of AVALANCHE.

The continued talking for a few more hours, or rather Reeve talked while Vincent sat and listened with slight amusement at the comments Chaos was making.

----------

Yuffie walked back into Luce's room. Seeing that she was waking up, she walked over to her bed "…Hey kiddo, feeling better?"

'Kiddo' shook her head as if to clear the sleep from her head "…You really should have woken me up once I fell asleep…"

The teen ninja sighed, and sat down on the bed next to her kiddo. "I know, but you looked really really tired, and I know you've been up for three weeks thanks to that numbskull giving you that stupid-"

"But he has a point. You know that I can't control it, if I sleep…"

"Listen, even you need to sleep sometime. She can't take care of you all the time, sleep is required because-."

"…Because I'm human?" Yuffie closed her mouth for all of three seconds "Well…yeah…"

"But I'm not really…you know that." Luce lay down on her side, turned away from Yuffie "…Its just like he said."

Yuffie jumped up, hitting her head on the low ceiling, and landing on all fours on the bed again "Hey, you know that's not true! Hojo was just a lying sack of-"

Luce curled up, holding her head "Could you talk more quietly? My head hurts…"

Yuffie sighed "Again?…you should just stop taking .79. It only makes you get worse-"

Luce curled up more tightly, until she was almost bent in half. When she spoke, it seemed half to herself "I know, I know…"

Yuffie stood up, and dusted herself off "Anyways, I came down to let you know that I got permission from Reeve, and you can come back to Wutai with me…if you want to…"

Luce nodded slightly "Of course I want to go back with you, but…" She lifted her head and looked over at the twenty Cait Siths in the room.

Yuffie followed her gaze and instantly understood "Relax…I'm sure that Uncle Cid has enough room on his airship for twenty dolls."

"…Cid isn't your uncle." Yuffie opened her mouth to answer, but shut it instantly after hearing the next words Luce spoke "Yuffie, do you have a mother?"

After thinking about it for a few minutes, Yuffie decided to tell Luce the truth "No…she died when I was seven. But Godo is still around. Lets call him…your uncle, okay?"

Luce nodded again. "…Leviathan is happy."

Yuffie's grin threatened to break her face "That is soooooooooooo great! Everyone in Wutai will be thrilled about that, and the fact that there's gonna be a leviathan back in Wutai!"

Ignoring Yuffie's obvious excitement, Luce lay down again and closed her eyes "Yuffie…"

Yuffie was bobbing up and down on the bed, bouncing slightly "Yeah?"

"I'm going back to sleep. Wake me up if I start to…you know…"

Yuffie nodded, pulling up her stool to stand watch. "Night kiddo."

"Night sis…"

Yuffie laughed "Hey, you finally called me sis!"

"Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Well…yeah…"

"…night."

"Night sis."


	6. Chapter 5

After re-reading what I've written so far, I realized that I owe every one better writing, so I've tried to make my writing better. I also realized I have no disclaimer. I apologize to you all, and present the labor of the last few hours.

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7, or any of its characters. I do own this story line, Luce, and my mini army of Cait Sith dolls.

* * *

Preparing for Departure

The Highwind's blonde captain cursed quietly under his breath, anticipating the mess that the almost-grown ninja would leave on his ship. Though they had not yet reached Reeve's building in Junon, where the brat was waiting, he knew that it was too much to hope that she had conquered her airsickness. He cursed again, not as quietly, as he heard the only other member of AVALANCHE who got airsick lose his breakfast for the seventh time that day. _The least he could do is copy the brat-Yuffie, and grab a bucket. _He sighed slightly, not looking forward in the least to having two people doing this. He almost cursed again as he realized for the third time that he had to start calling Yuffie by her proper name, even heroes who saved the world were not allowed to pick on rulers, and the day where Yuffie would rule Wutai was fast approaching. He didn't need the nearly dozens of reminders she left on his phone to remind him about this annoying little fact.

The former leader of AVALANCHE pulled his blonde hair back as he felt his stomach lurch again. Inwardly he cursed his airsickness while he silently apologized to Cid for losing his lunch for what must have been at least the fifth time that day. Tifa smiled weakly at him, and handed him something cold and metal. When he looked at her, she shrugged slightly "I found it in Yuffie's room…I don't think she'll mind if you use it, as long as its clean before she has to use it again." Cloud nodded slightly, but grabbed it sharply from her hands as he lost his lunch yet again. Cid voiced his thanks to Tifa, while informing Cloud after he was finished he had to clean up his mess. Cloud felt himself groan inwardly while trying to decide if it was safe for him to get up off of the floor.

A woman in her mid-twenties with long brown hair walked up to Cid. Tifa watched as he piloted for a while before venturing a question "…Why does Yuffie have a room here?"

Cid laughed slightly, pressing the auto-pilot button and reaching into his breast pocket for his beloved lighter and cigarettes. "Hell if I know, the-" He stopped mid sentence and pretended he needed to watch as he lit the cigarette. He actually stopped because he had nearly called Yuffie 'the brat' again, and he needed to break that habit as soon as possible…though breaking habits rarely came easily to him. He exhaled slowly, savoring the flavor "Hell if I know why, but she called me so often that I ended up giving her a room." The real reason she had her own room was because when she had her own room to go to, half his crew didn't end up sick from catching a whiff of vomit. The fact that Yuffie actually did require being flown back and forth from Wutai and the rest of the world was simply a more convent reason. If the brunette next to him thought that anything about the story was amiss, she gave no outward sign. Cid bit down several curses as Cloud began to retch again. Tifa sighed, and walked back to his side, holding his hair back away from the bucket. Taking the Highwind off of auto-pilot, he sighed inwardly. The sooner this flight was over, the better.

* * *

Luce sighed as she shoved her few belongings into a small bag. She had grown accustomed to this room, despite hating it here. It looked oddly empty without her beloved dolls and their beds. All of them had already packed, each had a suitcase slightly smaller then themselves. Staring oddly at the screen of her computer, she waited until 'It is now safe to turn your computer off' was displayed across the screen. For the second time in her life, she shut the computer off, and for the first, she took it off of the desk and placed it inside of its carrying case. The room was now empty, save for a bare bad and a desk. Yuffie poked her head into the room "Oh wow, your already done?" Luce felt herself nod, feeling oddly numb. _I'm leaving…_ She shook herself mentally, knowing that she shouldn't be so surprised. Yuffie was one of the few people who had never broken a promise to her. _Maybe the only one now…_

Yuffie noticed the sad look on the young girl's face. Spending time with Vincent while they were hunting Sephiroth had paid off. Like him, Luce tried to hide within herself by making her face a mask. Like him, however, it was impassable to keep the mask up at all times, and she often found clues within them both by the slight changes in the mask. The most valuable place to look, she had learned, were the eyes. She walked over to her skinny companion, bending over slightly to look her in the face. "Hey kiddo…you feeling ok?"

Luce shook herself mentally again, nodding slightly "Yeah…just a little tired I guess…" Yuffie giggled and turned in a circle, straightening up to her full height once more "Well, that's what you get when you only sleep for three hours in five weeks." Yuffie continued to twirl around the room, with unusual grace for someone so well know as a clutz, but ruined it by jumping a foot in the air and squawking like a chocobo when her phone went off. She giggled slightly as she sat down on the floor, clearing her throat as she picked up her phone and attempting to sound like Shera as she answered "Cid, dear, I thought you would never call…"

Luce winced as the phone erupted across the room "YUFFIE, YOU ARE NOT CONVINCING, STOP ACTING LIKE SUCH A FUCKING KID AND GROW UP A LITTLE!"

Yuffie giggled, and nodded. Realizing that he couldn't see her, she spoke again, in her normal voice this time "Geeze old man, can't I have any fun?"

Despite her advanced hearing, Luce couldn't hear the rest of Cid's side of the conversation. She decided that it must have something to do with the fact the he was no longer screaming at Yuffie. _**Or maybe its because that blithering idiot finally took him off speaker phone. **__How amazingly observant of you. Return to the abyss, I have no interest with you at the moment. _She ignored the slithering hiss she received at her dismissal when she realized Yuffie had hung up her phone and was now looking at her expectantly "Ready to go kiddo?"

Luce shook her head "I have one last thing to do first…" Yuffie nodded understandingly. "Alright, but don't be too long, ok? Cid will be here soon, and we need to leave right away."

* * *

Reeve paced in his office, nearly jumping when the door slid open. Thinking 002 was active, as few knew his code, he felt his jaw drop when Luce walked through the door. She nodded at him, politely waiting for him to regain his composure. "Reeve." After two minutes, he finally managed to close his mouth and stand up straight "Er…yes, Luce?" To his great surprise, she looked at the floor as if looking for words. After a minute she looked up, eyes as green as emeralds "Thank you." He felt his mouth drop again. "L-Luce?" She ignored the question "You let me come here, even knowing what I was. You let me help you with the Cait Sith project, and you even treated me like an adult instead of the child most view me as. For this…I thank you." Reeve slowly shook his head "I haven't treated you as I should…I'm sorr-" Luce shook her head "Do not apologize for that, it was my fault. You reacted as anyone I a position of power bearing responsibility should, by acting in a way that protects both himself and his company." For the first time, she smiled at him. "Doll number two will awaken shortly." Reeve nearly broke his face by grinning "Thank you, Luce." She shook her head again, eyes slowly fading back to their normal gray. "I will leave twenty-one with you, but the others wish to come with me…" He nodded "Of course, they belong with you." After a pause, he added "If you have any trouble with any of them, you can contact me at any time…" Smiling again, she held a hand out to him "Until next we meet, my little brother." Reeve shook her hand after remembering that being considered a little brother meant that she would offer help whenever he needed it; and replied formally. "Until next we meet, elder sister." 

Vincent sat on the bed in the room that Reeve had acquired for him. After another tense conversation with Reeve, he had eventually agreed to travel to Wutai with Yuffie and Luce. A knock on the door was all the warning he received before the over-energized ninja waltzed into his room "Cid called, he'll be here in an hour." She watched him out of the corner of her eye as she sat down on his bed. When she noticed that he was non-responsive, she knew everything was alright. "So, I heard you'll be going with us." The silence hung in the air, but after well over three years of knowing him, it was to be expected. "So…did you talk to her yet?" Mentally sighing, he finally answered. "…No." The look she was giving him almost gave him the need to supply an excuse, but he knew better then to encourage her. The girl was like a shaken can of a fizzy drink, once opened it would overflow no matter what you did. "…It wouldn't kill you to humor her, you know." In spite of himself, he looked up. It was more then unusual for Yuffie to sound anything but unhappy, she had been cracking jokes even while fighting Sephiroth. Yuffie stood up, dusting herself up though she didn't need to. "Well, I have to go make sure Luce didn't forget anything…see you later…"

* * *

Cloud felt himself exhale a breath he hadn't known he was holding when the ship finally landed. Tifa grinned at him, holding a hand out to help him up. "Come on, its almost time for us to see Yuffie…" Cid snorted, lifting his lighter near his mouth "…Cid, humor me this one time, and go inside without something sticking out of your mouth." Frowning, he placed both his lighter and cigarettes back inside of his pocket, muttering under his breath about something that sounded oddly like "Last time I do that damn brat a favor…" Smiling, Cloud accepted his friend's hand a rose to his feet. "Are you sure its ok that she doesn't know were coming" Smiling back at her blonde friend, Tifa chuckled "this is _Yuffie_, Cloud, she loves surprises." But something inside of her stomach disagreed with her. Deciding that it had to have something to do with watching someone lose one meal twelve times. "Relax." She wasn't entirely sure if she was talking to him or herself.

* * *

Yuffie walked with Luce down the hall, joking lightly with her beloved kiddo, while Vincent kept a constant distance of two steps between himself and the twirling ninja. Grudgingly, he admitted that a few of the girl's jokes were funny, but more amusing were the eighteen Cait Siths following single-file behind what he guessed was number eleven, who walked at Luce's side. When they turned the corner into another hall two blondes and a brunette became visible. Though all three were smiling and laughing, they stopped instantly when they saw what was in front of them. 

Yuffie looked at the scene in front of her with horror, gasping when she saw who had come with Cid _he said he was coming by himself!_ She looked to her left when she heard the noise of Luce dropping her bag. The girl was shaking slightly, starring not at Cloud, but at the sword strapped to his back. Everything was still for a moment.

Luce looked straight ahead at the sword _His sword…why does he have… __**He must have done it! It was him!**_ For another moment, she stared at the sword, shaking slightly _…break_

Cloud stared at the girl in front of him. There were only two people who he had seen with hair that black before in his life. One of them was dead, the other was Vincent. But the girl in front of him looked so like her. It wasn't possible, of course, she was too young for it to even be possible.

Yuffie stared for a moment longer, before she realized what was coming. "Luce-_NO!"_

At the word no, Luce jumped up, throwing herself across the hall with a scream. Halfway through the jump, a sickening noise was made as eight blood red wings sprung from her back. It suddenly became obvious why the back of her odd get-up had no back. As the wings sprung, the walls were splattered with blood. Her right hand suddenly turned the same blood red as her wings, as it stretched out toward the younger blonde man "**You! It was you how killed him!"** Her normally calm voice was replaced by an enraged snarl. Yuffie let out a chocked sob.

Vincent watched the girl jump for a moment, before Chaos muttered what sounded oddly like an apology, and took control. After years of trusting Chaos, Vincent's fumble for defense was completely useless. Chaos tackled the girl down to the floor, pinning her. Chaos hissed quietly in her face "**You are mistaken, retreat into the abyss…" **Chaos then retreated back into the depths of Vincent's mind, startlingly quiet. Vincent closed his eyes for a minute. When he looked down ate Luce, he noticed that her eyes were the same blood-red as his. She lay at an odd angle, staring at Cloud. "you…it was you…" Yuffie knelt down next to Luce. Vincent moved away from them, as Yuffie pulled Luce into a cradling hug while motioning to a Cait Sith. Luce seemed to notice Yuffie was there, and seemed desperate to tell her "It wasn't me…it wasn't me after all!" Yuffie took a needle from the Cait Sith "it wasn't me…it was him…he has his sword…" Yuffie smiled down at Luce "You have to go to sleep now…" Luce continued as if she hadn't heard her "I didn't kill him…wasn't…me…wasn't…him…didn't…kill…Zack…"

* * *

I will soon have Kait Sith dolls. The only difference between Cait and Kait, is that the Kait Siths are female. Reviews appreciated! 


	7. Chapter 6

Air-Sick

Cloud sat silently on a bed in the hospital room, staring out the window. It really was amazing what Shera could get Cid to do, when she tried. This was only one of the rooms added on that he hadn't wanted, though there were other rooms ha had added in addition to repairs after the escape from the crater. He looked across the room to his weapon, now regretting that he choose to bring this one, when he had had so many to choose from. After all, it wasn't his sword…not really. Tifa had told him earlier that she had overheard Yuffie mention that it had been the sword that caused the attack. He couldn't get the image of the girl out of his head, and a memory replayed itself over and over again in his mind.

_Zack smiled at him from the other side of the room. The next day, they would be heading to Cloud's hometown for a reactor check. He pulled out a picture, showing it to Cloud "See, that's my mom and dad on the right-" His father was holding his wife's hand in one of his own, giving her rabbit ears with two fingers. They smiled at each other. "-as you can see, that's me" His mother's arm was resting on his shoulder "-and that's my sister-" He had one arm around a girl with hair as dark as his, giving her a noogie with his other fist. Both of them were smiling at each other "-well, she isn't really my sister, but close enough. We were adopted at the same time from the same orphanage. We were always like a family, and never really stopped acting like one I guess." Cloud smiled up at his friend "So, where's the picture of your girlfriend?" Zack shrugged "I dropped it somewhere…I think I left it at home. Anyways, her name is A-"_

Tifa sitting down next to him on the bed brought him out of his thoughts. She gave a slight sigh, folding her hands in her lap. "Ok…you were right, we really should have told her we were coming." Cloud almost smiled, that was as close as Tifa ever got to admitting she was wrong…and closer then she usually got to admitting he was right. He closed his eyes, listening quietly to his friend talk. Once they started for Wutai, he would join Yuffie below deck…and then they would see who was more air-sick.

* * *

Yuffie left her room after making sure Luce and her dolls were securely set-up. She smiled at Kait Sith 011. The only reason Yuffie knew how to tell Luce's dolls apart, was because of the silver armlets that all of them wore on their upper left arms. Luce made each of them one when they had 'awakened', as she had put it. The only differences in these armlets, were the numbers and sometimes the names. Males were Cait, females were Kait. Shortly after leaving her room, Yuffie received a phone call from her father. After yet another screaming match with the _honorable Lord Kisaragi_, the young ninja headed to the single bathroom stall that existed on the Highwind. Though there were other toilets, none of them were functioning yet. After all, the Highwind wasn't _completely _rebuilt yet… 

As she rounded the corner, she spotted the one person in the world who used enough hair gel to turn their hair into a weapon. For five seconds they stared at each other, before they realized at the same instant why the other was there.

_THE TOILET!_

They immediately raced each other to the door, only to arrive at the same time.

"Outta the way, Cloud"

"Move it, Yuffie"

"Ladies first"

"Saviors of the planet first"

"Hey, I helped!"

"Yeah, _after _you stole our materia!"

"Hey, I gave it back!"

"After we saved your ass from Don Corneo!"

At this point, the Highwind gave a lurch, alerting all that they were about to launch.

"…Yuffie, there is only one way to decide this." Cloud lifted his sword into a fighter's stance.

"For once Cloud, I agree with you." Yuffie hoisted her Conformer. Both of them held their weapons loosely in their left hands, and raised a fist to the other. "On three?" "On three." Cloud selected rock. Yuffie picked paper. Ten minutes later, she lifted her head from the bowl of the toilet and grinned at him weakly. Cloud glared at her before shoving his head back into the bucket. Yuffie somehow always seemed to win when she needed to.

* * *

Vincent stood in his usual corner of the Highwind, watching Cid pilot quietly. Cid occasionally glanced over his shoulder in the direction of Yuffie's room. Despite the girls reassurances, it was obvious Cid still felt uneasy about transporting that kid after the outburst earlier. Vincent closed his eyes, concentrating on Chaos. _That was unexpected._ It seemed as if the demon was refusing to talk. _First you seize control for the first time since Sephiroth, and even then its only particle control. Why? And why bother to only hold onto it while that girl was berserk? _More silence greeted him. Though he would normally be grateful for the silence, today it bothered him. After several more minutes of being ignored, he decided that the only way he would be getting answers, was to ask the girl. However, since Yuffie had put her out until after they had safely arrived in Wutai, all that was left was to wait.

* * *

Fourteen hours and fifty-seven minutes later, the Highwind landed outside of Wutai.

* * *

(Author's Note) I apologize for the wait, but I've…sort of forgotten what I wanted to do with this but I remember now, so it shouldn't take as long for the next chapter. Cookies for all who review…I promise at some point I'll go back and rewrite the first few chapters. 


End file.
